Vigneron's Report 

I'm not happy with the seedless table grapes. These were planted at the front on the vineyard. I'm using single cordons at five feet with Reliance and Interlaken. Early leaf drop is a problem. The foch and the baco noir are thriving right next door in the same soil type. I planted these to allow visitors to harvest - maybe a u-pick operation. Right now, they're an embarrassment. I believe they know they're unloved in comparison to my wine grapes.

Speaking of loved, the cythiana has come into its own this year. Large, healthy canopy with just the right grape load. In comparison, some of the hybrids look weak - especially Vidal. Cythiana will make a big, strong red. The vineyard is still young. We'll see how the next growing season progresses. Some changes may be order.

The downside this year is birds. They've found me. I'll definitely need some type of countermeasures next year. Maybe more cats?

'02 Harvest

Brought in a bumper crop, especially Foch. Sugar levels not as good as '01. Long days in winery. New 1000 L tanks working great. Got excellent quality grapes (as usual) from New Canaan Vineyards in Bowling Green. Brought in our first crop from the dueling grounds farm in Adairville. Overall, I'm happy with this year's effort. Let's see what the new year brings after fermentation.

'02 Growing Season

STILL WET! The Japanese beetles showed up during a week of rain. We've bought guineas and will see if we can use these guys for organic bug control. Upside with all this rain is that everything's growing well.

In the winery, the Seyval is even better. Best wine I ever made. I debated only whether to release under a different label rather than Country White, but in the end chose not to. New labels are expensive. We released to our local retail establishment with no fan fare and received phone calls within days from folks who loved it. It's dry and it tastes like Kentucky summer. I'm going to release the Baco Noir one of these days too. 

'02 Spring 

WET! Pruning this year not so easy as vines are getting older. The seedless grapes out front are rather puny. I chose not to fill in the dead spots as the vines that made it did not have much to contribute in the way of canes. No expansions this year either as time is fully allotted to planting already in place.

In the winery, the blush was a loss. So promising when young, the balance was off and the finish product will be discarded. The Cythiana is very aggressive / young. I'm oaking and ageing that. The Seyval is very good. And the Baco Noir is fruity. I'm looking forward to releasing both those wines in the summer.

'01 Harvest 

We brought in plenty of Seyval Blanc, and a serious quantity of Baco Noir and Cythiana from the estate vineyards. I experimented with our Foch and made a nouveau style wine. We bottled it as a small quantity of Country Red and it sold very quickly over the Thanksgiving holidays. This wine was made to be enjoyed quickly, so don't try to age it. We've gotten compliments from the few lucky ones who were able to get a bottle before it was sold out..

We also put the finishing touches on our Country White made from 2000 Seyval and Vidal Blanc. This is a dryer wine that goes well with turkey and venison. This wine also is selling extremely well. This vintage will be sold out by the end of January. Many folks tasted this wine at Thanksgiving and bought some more bottles for Christmas presents.

Gina and I have been very happy with the success of our first commercial vintage and the many compliments received. Because our first offering was small, we chose not to do a marketing campaign but rather send email notification to those who have requested it and let word of mouth do the rest. We only made our wine available locally in Logan County at the Logan Liquor Shoppe. And still the response has been tremendous. Thank you to everyone that made this day possible!

We've also got some other grapes from our friends at New Canaan Vineyards in Bowling Green. I'll be experimenting with these grapes to see what we'll get. I've got a blush wine that appears to be coming along nicely as of the last barrel tasting.

You may have noticed the web site wasn't being updated as often. Chalk it up to computer problems, but all is well now (thanks Fred).

All for now,

CHEERS!

'00 Harvest  

The Grapes are all in. We harvested about 500 lbs of Seyval Blanc, and about 50 lbs each of all the other varieties. The odd lot stuff we pressed into 5 gallons of fresh juice. Gina's going to experiment with making some jelly. We purchased some excellent quality Vidal Blanc from New Canaan Vineyards in Bowling Green. This will be the first wine available commercially (we're licensed! see the press release). I'm working on getting a nouveau style wine ready for Christmas.

The quality of grapes from the vineyard this year was only fair. Seems we had rain every 6 days or so after veraison. That's not good, because the grapes swell up with water and quality declines. It also increases disease pressure. A few miles away in Bowling Green, the weather was better, only one day of rain during the ripening period. Sounds odd, doesn't it? Hoping it doesn't rain in the summer? This is rough on some of the local commodity crops, but good for the grapes. But, the rain did definitely help all the young vines and cuttings we put in this year. The Cythiana did exceptionally well.

My Uncle Jim came to visit, so I immediately took advantage of him to do some work on the winery. He helped get the windows in on the front. He's promised to come back and help with the wiring. Aren't relatives great? They drive long distances to work hard, and all you have to do is feed them and share a good bottle of wine.

This time of the year, the vines are storing up nutrients for next year. The new canes are hardening off (turning brown) and getting ready for the cold weather. At this point, I let the weeds grow up in the rows, to encourage the vines to go dormant. This will also help keep erosion down during the winter rains. Besides, our attention has shifted to the winery, where four varieties are in the throes of primary fermentation. So far, so good!

Expansion continues. We've planted more Cynthiana and a whole bunch of seedless table grapes - Interlaken and Reliance. The original plan did not include the table grapes, but local interest convinced us of the need. 

I'm very happy with the vines this spring. We did have a late frost which knocked the first buds off the Foch, but everything else is progressing nicely. Plenty of sun and wind (keeps the disease pressure low) and just enough rain. Trellising is in place on all the established vines too. Thanks to my father-in-law, Ed, on helping with the wire.

The secondary fermentation room in the winery is almost complete. My father helped me on that one. Takes quite a while to build 12" thick walls. Speaking of the winery, we had the opportunity to have Mike Joines, a local artist/craftsman, carve our solid poplar doors this winter. Now, I need to do some engineering and put them up in the front of the building.

Gina continues to make soap and work on the winery license. So far, so good. We should be selling this fall! 

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